RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) Increases Dividend to $0.40 Per Share

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the insurance provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from RenaissanceRe’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

RenaissanceRe has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.7% annually over the last three years. RenaissanceRe has a payout ratio of 4.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect RenaissanceRe to earn $39.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.0%.

RenaissanceRe Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of RNR opened at $240.59 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $255.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $257.38. RenaissanceRe has a 12-month low of $208.98 and a 12-month high of $300.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The firm has a market cap of $12.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.43.

RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The insurance provider reported $8.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.94 by $1.12. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 15.99% and a return on equity of 23.41%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that RenaissanceRe will post 33.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at RenaissanceRe

In related news, EVP David E. Marra sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.16, for a total value of $254,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 79,392 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,178,270.72. This represents a 1.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on RNR shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on RenaissanceRe from $265.00 to $245.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of RenaissanceRe from $364.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $282.00 target price (down from $304.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of RenaissanceRe from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $279.90.

RenaissanceRe Company Profile

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Property, and Casualty and Specialty segments. The Property segment writes property catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance to insure insurance and reinsurance companies against natural and man-made catastrophes, including hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, as well as winter storms, freezes, floods, fires, windstorms, tornadoes, explosions, and acts of terrorism; and other property class of products, such as proportional reinsurance, property per risk, property reinsurance, binding facilities, and regional U.S.